The Hermit Herbalist

Chapter 1 - Avengers in Asgard

The Avengers felt like they were way outside of their league.  Thor had ever so kindly (and in Shakespearean) asked for their help with what he called a 'little' problem on Asgard.  Said 'little problem' wound up being a full blown invasion from a very organized band of marauders.  "Are these guys instant messaging each other or something?  They really seem like they have their shit together.  What happened to the bad guys, who have their crappy, predictable plans that we can easily handle?" Tony asked via comms.

"We don't improve if we're not challenged, Tony," Steve admonished, but everyone was inclined to agree with Tony.  Except for the Hulk.  He did not care either way.  He still got to smash things.

"I'm not in the mood for one of your inspirational jargon's, Rogers!" Tony sniped back.  Clint just rolled his eyes as he fired arrows from his position on top of the Bifrost dome.  He had managed to secure himself to the spherical building with cable and was firing down into the enemy with his specialized arrows.  

"It's all a load of nonsense to me," he commented as he pulled out an electrical impulse arrow and released it into the ranks of their foe.

"These particular marauders have been very troublesome to such realms as Nidavellir and Nornheim.  I imagined they would be tough to beat," Thor responded.

"Why the f*ck are we here?!  Why couldn't your Ein-her-jarie gooks deal with it?!" Tony said.  He was legitimately angry about this whole affair.  Not the being dragged to Asgard, but the whole fighting.  It was very annoying.  It messed with his schedule of sleeping with the maidens of Asgard.

"Because I said please?" Thor suggested.  Tony growled and everyone heard on comms.  

"Stop whining, Stark!" Natasha scolded as she zapped two aliens with her spider's bite.  

"You can yammer all you want, Romanov!  You weren't the one who had to leave two hot wenches in your bed this morning!" Tony said and several people groaned.

"You're mad because you didn't get off today?  You're incorrigible, Tony!" Steve scolded as he let his shield fly and hit several pirates.

"Their attacks are organized and precise-" Thor explained.

"What gave them away?" Clint asked dryly as he let go of the string, sending the arrow down, at it released a sharp wire.  It sliced through several necks before embedding itself in the Rainbow Bridge.  Clint smiled at his handiwork. 

"How did they even access the Bifrost, thing?" Steve asked.  Thor was standing at the very end of the Bifrost and he was holding that end very nicely.  His Asgardians friends: the Warriors Three and Sif were by his side.  He had asked the Avengers to position themselves strategically around the city to help wherever they could.  

"They were concealed from Heimdall's sight by means of sorcery.  I suspect the hand of a certain enchantress," Thor explained.  

"Hope your toll bridge guy is okay with having the wool pulled over his eyes," Tony said.

"He's really angry.  He keeps calling people names.  Must have been a hell of a boner this morning," Clint said with a snigger that earned him a whole slew of curses from Stark.  

"Would you children please put your big boy pants on?  I'm tired of watching you embarrass yourselves," Natasha said and Clint grinned at his partner's comment.  He fired another arrow, a regular one.  The pirates scattered, leaving the dead body behind.  Clint liked to switch it up and keep them guessing.  It kept things more interesting for him.

"Barton!  Get off the Bifrost dome!" Thor suddenly called through the comms.  Clint was startled by his booming voice that he fumbled with the cable and wound up dropping himself to the Rainbow Bridge below.  He hit the glimmering surface hard and winced.

"Dammit, Thor!  The least you can do is not blow my eardrum out!" Clint hissed, actually annoyed now.

"They are aiming a cannon at the Bifrost!  You must flee!" Thor warned and Clint felt the blood drain from his face.  He put his sunglasses on and set them to Hawk Mode.  From where he was standing, he could see the raiders setting up a pretty decent sized cannon, and aiming it right at him.

"Oh, come on!" he snapped as he went back into the Bifrost dome.  It was still occupied.  Heimdall, the Golden Gatekeeper, was battling off the raiders that were still coming through.  Whoever or whatever had hijacked the Bifrost, was still active, and they had not figured out a way to solve it.  

"What brings you back here, mortal?  Surely, the prince would rather have you by his side," Heimdall said as he sliced through a pirate with his huge claymore.

"Um, they're about to shoot us with a cannon," was all Clint said as he took several of them out with his arrows.   Heimdall used his all-seeing eyes and saw the potential danger they were in.  

"I believe I can save you," the Asgardian said, and Clint raised his eyebrow at this.  Heimdall pushed him back and raised his sword.  "This could also sabotage their hijacker.  I will send you off Asgard.  I know not where you will land, but here is to hoping it is a good place," Heimdall informed him.

"What...?" Clint started to ask, but that was when Heimdall pushed the sword in and he felt the pull of a mighty force, drawing him backwards towards the opening in the Bifrost gate.  A split second after fire enveloped the golden space.  The only way Clint could describe it to himself in order to cope, was that it felt like having his body broken up into tiny atoms, jumbled around, sent through a small hole, forcefully sucked out the other side, and reassembled after much confusion.  Clint yelled, because that was all he could do.

The sun shone down on the field outside a little known town on Nornheim's far outreaches.  The realm was quiet, due to the nature of its rulers: the Norns, Goddesses of Fate.  However, they did get traders every once in a while, as well as soldiers from other worlds.  In general though, it was mostly peaceful and serene.  Just the place for a reincarnated god to live.  

Loki was gathering herbs in the field outside her cottage.  Her little dwelling was a slight distance from the town, giving her much desired privacy, and seclusion; but it was also so that she would be closer to the nature of their world.  Loki could not find half the herbs she needed close to the village.  They tended to be pulled as weeds by the farmers, eaten by the horses, or trampled by the children.  Out here, she allowed them to grow free, and plucked them when they were ready.  Her egg laying birds roamed in their dirt pen, and her cow was tucked away in its sheltered stall.  She straightened up, wiping dirt from her hands with her apron, and brushing strands of her black, curly hair from her eyes.  Loki inhaled deeply and smiled.  That was before a bright light altered the appearance of the sky and she saw a tower of colors come down from the heavens.  Her heart stopped in her chest.  Had they found her?  How had they found her?  The family she had been reborn into had cast her out and thought her dead.  Nobody should even think that Loki, God of Mischief, had been reincarnated into another body; much less hers.  

She clutched her basket to her bosom and watched as something hit the ground, and the earth shook.  Loki could not breath for several seconds, but when no retaliation or violence of any kind was forthcoming, she decided to venture onward.  If she did not ascertain first what had landed on Nornheim, the village would soon enough.  Loki put her basket back in her cottage, and grabbed her pitchfork.  She walked quickly, soon leaving her field behind her and entering the woods.  She stepped lightly over the pine needles and fallen twigs.  The wind blew in her face and she caught the scent of something burning.  Loki picked up the pace, doing a delicate dance she had perfected over the years.  She jumped over fallen branches and gracefully avoided hidden rocks and holes.  After several minutes of running, Loki saw where the quite a few branches had been broken, and where there was a burnt path in the ground.  She walked over to it and looked down to see who it was.

"Well, the Fates are cruel," Loki said, accessing her previous memories and recalling the face of a certain mortal archer.  She put her pitchfork down, knelt in the dirt and placed her fingers against the pulse point of his neck.  After a few seconds, she did detect a beating heart.  Loki withdrew her hand and sighed.  "You won't thank me," she whispered as she pulled her apron off and used it to pillow Clint Barton's head.